Abstract
Due to the current health trend in food, and more specifically smoothies, the use of blenders
has become more popular. By reason of this trend, Ankarsrum Kitchen AB, a Swedish single
product company, sees great potential in expanding into the blender market. Ankarsrum Kitchen AB has no dedicated department of design, thus asking for help with a concept to start the process in expanding into the blender market.
Creating a concept for a company means, finding the DNA of all the products in the product
family and implement common attributes, traits and semantic expressions into the new design. This is done to preserve and carry on the brand image. It is important to not lose the semantic values set by the company in order to convince the customers that the product belongs in the product family. Creating a design for a single product company implies identifying potential attributes from only one product which aggravates the difficulty in retaining an aesthetic consistency in between the products.
The initial research of the company’s product, Ankarsrum Assistent Original resulted in an
understanding of what might be brand-defining attributes; The combination and composition
of materials and the restrictive use of details. User studies demonstrated which functions that
was sought after and problematic obstacles when using a blender. The study revealed that the
pulse function was the most appreciated function and cleaning was the most common concern.
The concept was developed from hand sketches and CAD-programs like Alias Speedform and
Alias Autostudio. After a long and creative development phase, eventually, a form that
expresses Ankarsrum’s core values high performance and reliability was created. Even if the
brand Ankarsrum is not fully compatible with pre-programmed functions, the final concept has one; a self-cleaning program. This decision of conflict was made regarding the consumers’ high demand. A pulse function was implemented in the speed controller.
Finally, the concept was semantically analyzed to ensure the validity of the concept’s semantic expressions.
This report provides a concept of a blender specifically designed for Ankarsrum Kitchen AB.
Furthermore, the report explains the process used to generate the final concept and how it was
evaluated.

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